Lund, Sweden to visit Alisha!

Hello! Sorry for the delay in posts...it's been a busy few days. Nothing too exciting happened last week. I had classes and a lot of tutoring sessions. However, on Friday, I finally reunited with one of my best friends from home, Alisha! She studies engineering at UConn and is abroad at Lund University in the south of Sweden. On Friday afternoon, I flew into Copenhagen and then took about an hour train ride to Lund. The train ride alone was beautiful! Seeing wide open fields covered with snow and the Baltic Sea was a perfect change from the city life. I got to Lund in the late afternoon, and Alisha was waiting for me at the train station! We rode bikes around the city for the afternoon...which was interesting because I'm pretty sure that was the first time I rode a bike in years; and while you never really forget how to ride a bike, your muscles don't exactly like the sudden change lol. Anyway, Lund is a great town! The majority of it is comprised of students, and it has pretty, quaint buildings and houses, and cobblestone streets. Even though it was much colder than Paris and started snowing, we had a great night with all of Alisha's friends. We had dinner together and then enjoyed a night on the town. Alisha has a huge friend group, and they are all lots of fun and insanely nice. A few of her friends came to Paris a few weeks ago, and I spent some time with them so it was really cool to already know some of her friends! I will also be traveling with them to Edinburgh in a few weeks, and Alisha will be staying with me in Paris in a few weeks! We honestly realized how amazing it is that we have the chance to travel together in Europe. Anyway, we were out pretty late on Friday, so we slept in on Saturday and spent most of the day with some of her very amusing and hilarious friends from Italy. They made us some delicious food! After spending the morning/afternoon with them, we ventured to the much-anticipated sauna near Lund. It was INCREDIBLE!! The sauna is located in the middle of the Baltic Sea and is absolutely beautiful. You have to walk on a long boardwalk to reach the modern, cabin-like building sitting peacefully in the middle of the deep blue water. It felt so great to breathe fresh air and be away from the city. The sauna itself is so wonderful because you sit inside and stare out at the ocean because the walls are all windows. And when you get too hot, you build up enough courage to jump into the unbelievably cold ocean water. The first time we went into the water was a shock, but the next few times weren't too bad. The first time Alisha went to the sauna she said she had to push away the ice in the water when she jumped in! We stayed in the sauna for a while and watched the sunset over the ocean; it was a perfect day! When it got dark, we went back to Lund to have dinner with Alisha's friends and enjoy another night all together. It was a lot of fun! She has a tone of friends who speak French, which was totally awesome. I think I spoke more French this weekend than I have since being in Paris! The next day I only had time to say goodbye to some of Alisha's friends and then had to head back to Paris, while Alisha headed off for her 17-day spring break (Poland is her first stop). Anyway, it was an amazing weekend; it was so great to see her! I am definitely considering going back in May if I can find cheap flights! As for Paris, the weather was a bit nicer today, and we are all hoping the warm spring sunshine is on its way (just in time for Auntie Connie and Lani)! I have several tests this week so I will be studying for those, but I am also looking forward to Mont St. Michel on Saturday! Stay tuned for pictures from Sweden...they are all on Alisha's camera, but she won't be back in Sweden for a bit.